When Hansel and Gretel's step-mother didn't want them any more, she forced their father to lead them into the woods and abandon them. They overheard the plan the night before, and each stole a handful of breadcrumbs from the kitchen, though, and let them fall through their fingers as they walked to make a trail to lead them back home. After they passed by, though, the birds flew out of the trees to eat the crumbs lying all over the ground, leaving the children with no way home!

The two wandered in the woods, hungry and thirsty, until they found a house made entirely out of cookies and sweets. They were so hungry, they ran right over and started devouring part of the doorway! Little did they know, a witch lived in the house. She captured the two children when she saw them eating her beloved cottage, and put them in a cage inside, intending to cook them up and eat them.

but Hansel and Gretel escaped just as the witch was lighting her oven. She tried to grab them and throw them in, but the children were too quick, and they pushed her into the oven instead!

Gretel

The story of Hansel and Gretel goes back to old German fairy tales. The tale originally recorded by the Brothers Grimm in 1812 tells the story of a pair of children sent to starve in the woods by their evil stepmother who stumble upon a witch living in a house made out of sweets and gingerbread.